“How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Meeting at Night” by Robert Browning, and “Parting at Morning” by Robert Browning all share the same theme, love. Biographical information, symbols, setting, and the supported theme in all three of these poems will be discussed.
“Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the eldest of eleven children, and she was born in 1806 to a wealthy and over-bearing father” (Browning 1). Her [Browning’s] family owned a large estate in Herefordshire, England (Sonnet 43). At the age of four, she started to read and write verses (Sonnet 43). “When she was fourteen, Browning’s father secretly published her epic, ‘The Battle of Marathon: A Poem’” (Browning 1). “Browning injured her spine in a riding accident at this time, but she continued to study poetry” (Browning 1). This injury led to chronic cough that she would have to deal with for the rest of her life (Sonnet 43). She was published anonymously in 1826 and 1833 (Browning 1). Elizabeth’s father had made a ton of money from the Jamaican sugar plantations, but there were serious financial losses in 1832 (Sonnet 43). They had to sell their house and move to London in 1832 (Sonnet 43). In the 1840’s, she met another poet, Robert Browning (Browning 1). They chose Florence, Italy, hoping that the warm weather would help Elizabeth with her cough (Sonnet 43). In 1846, Robert and Elizabeth Browning eloped to Italy and made Florence their new home. (Browning 1). Due to a serious cold, Elizabeth died in Florence in 1861, when she was 55 years old (Sonnet 43).
Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, London to Robert Browning and Sarah Anne Wiedemann in 1812 (Browning 23). The early Robert Browning had a library, which his son used at an early age (Browning...
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...Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are represented by the traditional love poems “Meeting at Night”, “Parting at Morning”, and “How Do I Love Thee?”, which is one of the most often quoted poems in the English language” (Kirszner and Mandell 904). “In one of pair of poems- ‘Meeting at Night’ and ‘Parting at Morning’- he is concerned with the lengths to which lovers will go be together and the necessity for parting” (Odden 167). Robert and Elizabeth Browning are great examples of what love is, and some of their poems have the theme ‘love.’
In conclusion, biographical information of two poets, the symbols in three poems, the settings in three poems, and the shared theme have been discussed. “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Meeting at Night” by Robert Browning, and “Parting at Morning” by Robert Browning have been thoroughly researched.
"Robert Browning." Critical Survey of Poetry: English Language Series. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 1. Englewood Cliffs: Salem, 1982. 338, 341.
Have you ever fallen in love? Have you ever developed strong feelings for another? If problems arose between the two of you, were you able to overcome them? Well certain men in Robert Browning’s works couldn’t seem to. . . “overcome” these differences with their women. Browning grew up learning from his father’s huge library. His wife was much more successful at writing than him. Eight years after her death, his career turned around for the last 20 years of his life. During this time, he wrote many short dramatic monologues such as My Last Duchess and Prophyria’s Lover. These two very intriguing and disturbing Monologues, My Last Duchess and Prophyria’s Lover, by Robert Browning, involve two very messed up men whose actions are both alike in their idea of immortalizing their woman, but different in why they chose to commit the act between the two stories, and a conclusion may be drawn from this observation.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning is an English Poet of the Romantic Movement who read various number of Shakespeare’s plays and many different passages from Paradise Lost before the age of 10. As a child, Elizabeth suffered from lung ailment and spinal injury that had plagued her for the rest of her life, but that didn’t stop her from completing her education, and writing numerous amount of sonnets and poems. When she was living under her father’s tyrannical rule, she bitterly opposed slavery and her siblings being sent away to Jamaica by writing the poem, The Seraphim and Other Poems, that expresses the Christian sentiments in the form of Greek tragedy. In 1846, the couple, Elizabeth and Robert, eloped and settled in Florence, Italy, in which helped
Robert Browning was poet during the Victorian Age, his wrote about love and established this through his characters. His works explore the nature of love, as shown in “Porphria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess.” Throughout both poems, Robert Browning uses multiple literary devices to help establish the theme of the nature of love.
Love is the ubiquitous force that drives all people in life. If people did not want, give, or receive love, they would never experience life because it is the force that completes a person. Although it often seems absent, people constantly strive for this ever-present force as a means of acceptance. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is an influential poet who describes the necessity of love in her book of poems Sonnets from the Portuguese. In her poems, she writes about love based on her relationship with her husband – a relationship shared by a pure, passionate love. Browning centers her life and happiness around her husband and her love for him. This life and pure happiness is dependent on their love, and she expresses this outpouring and reliance of her love through her poetry. She uses imaginative literary devices to strengthen her argument for the necessity of love in one’s life. The necessity of love is a major theme in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 43” and “Sonnet 29.”
Through her endeavors, this seems to be a new way of thoroughly expressing her admiration and vast affection for her husband. Emily Barrett Browning has proved herself a master poet. Not only does she use almost every literary device in the book, but she also delves deep into her feelings. These explanations of her feelings that she adds into the sonnets are rich in metaphors, alliteration, personification, and many more.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 's "Sonnet XLIII" speaks of her love for her husband, Richard Browning, with rich and deeply insightful comparisons to many different intangible forms. These forms—from the soul to the afterlife—intensify the extent of her love, and because of this, upon first reading the sonnet, it is easy to be impressed and utterly overwhelmed by the descriptors of her love. However, when looking past this first reading, the sonnet is in fact quite ungraspable for readers, such as myself, who have not experienced what Browning has for her husband. As a result, the visual imagery, although descriptive, is difficult to visualize, because
Relationships between two people can have a strong bond and through poetry can have an everlasting life. The relationship can be between a mother and a child, a man and a woman, or of one person reaching out to their love. No matter what kind of relationship there is, the bond between the two people is shown through literary devices to enhance the romantic impression upon the reader. Through Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham,” Ben Jonson’s “To Celia,” and William Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” relationships are viewed as a powerful bond, an everlasting love, and even a romantic hymn.
Robert Browning wrote the two poems, "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover. " Both poems convey a thoughtful, profound commentary on the concept of love. communicates two interpretations concerning Both poems describe the behavior of people who are in loving, romantic relationships. There are several aspects common to both poems. Using the literary technique of dramatic dialogue, the author reveals the plot and central idea of each poem.
In “Sonnet 43,” Browning wrote a deeply committed poem describing her love for her husband, fellow poet Robert Browning. Here, she writes in a Petrarchan sonnet, traditionally about an unattainable love following the styles of Francesco Petrarca. This may be partly true in Browning’s case; at the time she wrote Sonnets from the Portuguese, Browning was in courtship with Robert and the love had not yet been consummated into marriage. But nevertheless, the sonnet serves as an excellent ...
Nims, John . “Love Poem”. Literature to go. Ed. Meyer, Michael. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print.
Robert Browning's poem "Meeting at Night" is essentially a narrative of a man who is journeying to meet his lover. The man recounts his journey as he undertakes it, mentioning or observing different portions of the trip, each in turn. One by one, he briefly describes his surroundings as he passes by them, merely noting them as if they bear only fleeting significance to him. However, although his descriptions are unpretentious and abruptly forgotten as he continues onward toward his goal, each line of the poem contains striking imagery. In fact, it should be noted that this poem consists entirely of imagery. Every line depicts a scene of the landscape that Browning's narrator encounters; that is, at least, until he finally reaches his destination, when his focus is diverted to his lover. Throughout the entire poem he offers no personal insight or reflection on his situation, and he instead is content to merely report his perceptions and observations as they come and go. Although each of these little vignettes is of seemingly small consequence in itself, these individual images are each portrayed with remarkable style and feeling, and Browning skillfully strings these images together to elicit specific feelings and reactions from his readers. His masterful application of imagery, mood, and dynamic movement serve to shape the poem's emotion in such a way that the reader can tap into a plentiful well of information pertaining to the state of the speaker and his emotions -- information that initially goes unnoticed from a strictly literal observation.
She says “writing can be an expression of one 's innermost feelings. It can allow the reader to tap into the deepest recesses of one 's heart and soul. It is indeed the gifted author that can cause the reader to cry at her words and feel hope within the same poem. Many authors as well, as ordinary people use writing as a way to release emotions.” She makes plenty points in her review that I completely agree with. After reading the poem I think that Elizabeth Barret Browning is not only the author of her famous poem, but also the speaker as well. She is a woman simply expressing her love for her husband in a passionate way through poetry. In the 1st Line it reads “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” A woman drunk in love she is, and next she begins to count the numerous ways she can love her significant
By using references of her grief or her losses, Browning creates a more realistic view of her love suggesting that her love is sincere as it comes from a grieved person, which differs to the positive and idealistic feelings portray in the first octave. The poet then talks about her fondness of her love, revealing that her she lives for her love “ I love thee with the breath, / smiles, tears, of all my life;” (line 12-13), the asyndetic listings of the verbs ‘breath’, ‘smiles’ and ‘tears’, implying that her love can stem from different emotions she feels such as happiness and sadness, suggesting to her beloved that her love comes from good and sad points of her life.
Biographically, Robert Frost’s life followed the same pattern that a lot of American authors also followed: early struggles and grief to prestige and fame. Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California to William Prescott Frost Jr., a journalist and a passionate Democrat, and Isabelle Moodie, who was of Scottish descent. Robert Lee Frost was named after the Confederate general, Robert E. Lee. When Frost was two years old, his mother took him and fled to Lawrence, Massachusetts to get away from her husband, who had drinking and gambling problems. While in Lawrence, Isabelle Moodie had a second child, whose name was Jeanie Florence. While the family still resided in Lawrence, Robert Frost’s father died of Tuberculosis when Frost was eleven years old. Before his death, William Frost expressed a desire to be buried in New England, so Isabelle Moodi...